Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to communications technology and more particularly to providing communications services to users on an aircraft.
Description of the Related Art
A typical communications system provides users with in-flight wide area network communications services, and, in some cases, also provides users on an aircraft with in-flight local area network communications services (e.g., a wireless local-area network (WLAN) based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' 802.11 standards). Although terrestrial equipment may provide wide-area network communications services to user equipment while the aircraft is on the ground and aircraft equipment may provide wide-area network communications services via a satellite communications system to a user while in flight, satellite network capacity is limited and expensive and ground access to terrestrial WLAN networks is available for only a small portion of time that a user spends on the aircraft. Accordingly, improved techniques for providing communications services to users on an aircraft are desired.